3/29 Tuesday Sessions

Boundary spaces in environmental politics: Contested geographies of knowledge and power

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM in Powell Room A, Hilton Hotel, 6th Floor

8:00 AM Author(s): *Marc Tadaki, MSc - University of British Columbia

Abstract Title: Spatial politics of environmental science: towards a framework for comparative analysis

8:20 AM Author(s): *Eimear Heaslip - National University of Ireland, Galway & Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology

Abstract Title: Community Energy Knowledge Networks: Island Communities and Policy Processes

8:40 AM Author(s): *James Palmer - University of Oxford

Abstract Title: The VW emissions scandal in Europe: The politics of situated knowledge regimes in Brussels

9:00 AM Author(s): *Nick Lewis - University Of Auckland

Richard Le Heron - University of Auckland

Abstract Title: New Zealand's Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge: Enacting new knowledge frameworks

9:20 AM Discussant: Tim Forsyth - London School Of Economics

Discussant(s):

Tim Forsyth - London School Of Economics

Session Description: Climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification and other major environmental challenges are often viewed as global problems requiring global solutions (Hulme, 2009; Miller, 2004). Within the sustainability sciences, some factions even contend that we have entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, which demands new modes of environmental governance centred on the policing of boundaries and tipping points at a planetary scale (Rockström et al., 2009; Steffen et al., 2015). Within this outlook, scientific knowledge of environmental degradation is typically viewed as universally applicable, and as the primary basis upon which to formulate objective, rational policy decisions.

Scholarship in science and technology studies and critical political ecology has a long history of debunking the idea of universally applicable, placeless knowledge (Shapin, 1998; Forsyth, 2003). Moreover, the ways in which environmental knowledges come into contact with policy making and political processes have been shown, through a number of in-depth case studies, to be complex and varied (Jasanoff, 1990; Owens, 2015). A particularly seminal insight has been that the qualities of 'good science' itself are contingent and negotiable; actors in contentious environmental policy debates routinely engage, rhetorically and discursively, in 'boundary work' (Gieryn, 1983), in order to influence how authority accrues to different kinds of knowledge claims.

Most recently, geographers have begun to investigate how the interactions of knowledge and power are themselves influenced by the material geographic settings in which actors struggle over questions of epistemic and political authority (Kuus, 2014; Mahony, 2013; Palmer, 2014). Drawing inspiration from recent work on the geographies of science, a central claim of this work is that we should study not simply boundary work, but 'boundary spaces', if we hope to deepen our understandings of the full complexity of knowledge¬'s interactions with political power at the 'science-policy interface'. As recent interventions have argued (Lave et al., 2014; Tadaki et al., 2012), geography is ideally placed to develop a critical, reflexive dialogue about the production and application of environmental knowledge - including physical geographical knowledge - in contentious policy debates.

Accordingly, this paper session invites contributions that explore the local, place-specific ways in which environmental knowledges are produced, assembled, allocated authority, and ultimately brought into contact with relevant policy processes.

Theorizing Energy Transition in the Global South

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 10:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Beijing, Marker Hotel, 2nd Floor

10:00 AM Author(s): *Zora Kovacic, PhD - Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Suzanne Smit - School of Public Leadership and Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, Stellenbosch University

Josephine Kaviti Musango, PhD - School of Public Leadership and Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, Stellenbosch University

Alan Colin Brent, PhD - Department of Industrial Engineering and Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, Stellenbosch University

Mario Giampietro, PhD - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats

Abstract Title: Exploring energy demand in informal urban settlements: A case from South Africa

10:20 AM Author(s): *Carla A. Coronado, PhD Candidate in Planning and Public Poliicy - E.J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University

Clinton J. Andrews, Professor of Urban Planning and Policy Development - E.J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University

Abstract Title: The Chilean Energy Transition

10:40 AM Author(s): *Laurence Delina - Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University

Abstract Title: Producing energy futures in the global south: tools and capacities in a structured decision-making framework for energy transition

11:00 AM Author(s): *Cheryl McEwan - University Of Durham

Abstract Title: The private sector and renewable energy in South Africa: examining the spatial politics of the zone

11:20 AM Author(s): *Conor Harrison - University of North Carolina

Abstract Title: Engaging critical geographies of energy in the Caribbean

Session Description: Energy regimes in the Global South have been variably shaped by complex histories of colonization, nationalism, development, and market-based liberalization. In most instances, the resulting systems have been built around carbon-based fossil fuels and are largely dependent upon external actors for materials, technologies, capital and expertise. Spurred in part by the wider discussions around (and funding for) global climate change, many countries are now making a concert effort to reduce oil dependency and increase energy security through fuel diversification and an increase in renewable forms of energy. The emerging contours of this energy transition include new energy landscapes and socio-technical systems built upon new forms of geo-material agency (geothermal, wind, solar, hydro), more distributed forms of energy production, and new practices and technologies of energy consumption. These energy transformations will entail not only novel sociomaterial relations and infrastructures, but also the reorganization of governmental powers and practices, as well as new forms of energy citizenship and subjectivity. This session explores the diverse empirical contours and theoretical implications of energy transitions in the Global South.

GIS and spatial analysis in energy related research

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 12:40 PM - 2:20 PM in Beijing, Marker Hotel, 2nd Floor

12:40 PM Author(s): *Bronwyn Lazowski - University of Waterloo

Paul Parker, Ph.D. - University of Waterloo

Abstract Title: In-Home Displays and the Smart Grid: Measuring Household Responses to Consumption Feedback in a Canadian Case Study

1:00 PM Author(s): *Age Poom - University of Tartu, Estonia

Abstract Title: The impact of the location of university campuses on the activity space and corresponding environmental load of students and academic staff

1:20 PM Author(s): *Erik H Schmidt - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Budhendra Bhaduri, PhD - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Nicholas Nagle, PhD - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Bruce Ralston, PhD - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Abstract Title: Classifying Nominal Voltage of Electric Power Transmission Lines Using Remotely-Sensed Data

1:40 PM Author(s): *Jochen Wendel - European Institute for Energy Research

Alexandru Nichersu - European Institute for Energy Reserach

Syed Monjur Murshed - European Institute for Energy Reserach

Alexander Simons - European Institute for Energy Reserach

Muhammad Saed - European Institute for Energy Reserach

Manfred Wieland - European Institute for Energy Reserach

Abstract Title: GIS energy analysis in smart city approaches

Session Description: Research in the energy domain is of high complex multidisciplinary nature and usually involves multiple domains. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can herby play an importation role in the analysis of energy related topics as well as help in communicating among stakeholders in decision making processes.

In the spatial context, research on energy is usually conducted at different scales and can range from single building entities to geographic regions. Data and energy models are thereby spatially aggregated or disaggregated to geographic units or boundaries and interact with other geographic research domains. Within this scope, different energy related application, e.g., energy demand, resource potentials, energy planning, smart cities applications, etc. have been developed that bridge interactions to other fields of geographic research.

This session seeks presentations focusing on methodological approaches that makes use of GIS, Spatial Data Analysis, Cartography, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), Modelling and related methods in the energy context. Possible topics for presentation may include but are not limited to:

• 3D visualization in energy related topics

• GIS in the energy planning and policies

• Smart and sustainable city approaches

• Humans as sensors, using sensor and VGI in energy related research

• Multi-scale modelling in the field of energy

• Spatial statistics in energy analysis

• Spatial-temporal visualization and analysis in energy

• Spatial data models and data infrastructures for energy analysis

• Renewable energy potential analysis and mapping (e.g. desktop and web mapping)

• Analysis of interactions between energy, environment and climate

• Dynamic simulation of energy systems

How much is enough? Facing up to the scale of the decarbonization challenge in urban mobility

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 2:40 PM - 4:20 PM in Union Square 21, Hilton Hotel, 4th Floor

2:40 PM Author(s): *Ian Philips, P.h.D - University of Leeds

Ian Philips, P.h.D - University of Leeds

Abstract Title: Estimating capacity to decarbonise urban mobility: The temporal change in capacity to make walking and cycling trips

3:00 PM Author(s): *Tim Schwanen - University of Oxford

Abstract Title: Few reasons for optimism? Transport research and the super-wicked problem of climate change

3:20 PM Author(s): *Marianne Knapskog - Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Abstract Title: Accessibilty in Norwegian Urban Planning

3:40 PM Author(s): *Stewart Barr - University of Exeter

Abstract Title: Low carbon urbanism: the limitations of relying on 'smart' behaviour change

Session Description: There has been an upsurge of interest in environmental issues in general, and climate change mitigation in particular, across the social sciences since the turn of the 21st Century. However, the majority of work related to urban mobility has neglected to comment on and explore the implications of the drastic scale of the cuts demanded by the latest climate science for urban mobility practices, technologies and infrastructures (McGlade & Ekins 2014). The emerging evidence renders the majority of proven fossil fuel reserves as 'unburnable', making a transition away from fossil fuels during the 21st century a priority for the future of civilisation. This session invites abstracts that: a) engage with the stark predictions of the latest climate science through radical forms of re-thinking urban mobilit! y practic es, technologies and infrastructures; b) examine how dominant political discourses that encourage incrementalist approaches to tackling climate change can be challenged through theoretical, empirical and practice-based research; and c) provide positive visions of the future that promote human and ecological wellbeing, through examining how the urban can be re-configured for low carbon living. In particular, we invite papers from researchers who are working on a range of projects that seek to radically reduce individual and collective reliance on carbon-based mobilities, which could be through the following lenses, at a range of scales, from the individual to the city:

· Exploring forms of New Urbanism and a range of localized responses to climate change that reduce the need for personal; mobility;

· Local economic initiatives for reducing the mobility of goods and services;

· The use of Smart technologies for individual and collective mobility;

· Initiatives to reduce personal mobility and modal shift through behavioural change and wider changes tosocial practices;

· Attempts to radically re-vision cities for the future.

Contributions from all branches of geography are welcome, including:

• Urban Geography

• Transport Geography

• Practice theory

• GIS and modelling work

• Economic and Political Geography

This special session will include a presentation by Steve Melia, author of Urban Mobility Without the Hot Air, on the implications of climate science for Transport Geography and Urban Planning. This session encourages geographies that are both outward-looking, focussing on how to best tackle the 'elephant in the room' of climate change and self-reflective, focussing on how academic geography can rise to the climate challenge.

Asia Symposium: Research on Energy & Environment

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 2:40 PM - 4:20 PM in VanNess Room, Hilton Hotel, 6th Floor

2:40 PM Author(s): *Sunyurp Park - Pusan National University (Geography)

Abstract Title: Decadal Records of Satellite-Measured Aerosol Optical Thickness and Its Geographic Characterstics in Korea

3:00 PM Author(s): *Mirza Sadaqat Huda - University of Queensland

Abstract Title: Conceptualizing Regional Cooperation on Energy in South Asia: Challenges in Implementing Transnational Pipelines and Electricity Grids

3:20 PM Author(s): *Yi-Chen Wang - National University of Singapore

Roy Yuen - National University of Singapore

Abstract Title: Investigating Habitat Connectivity of the Definitive and First Intermediate Hosts of Southeast Asian Liver Fluke

3:40 PM Author(s): *Abhishek Kumar - University of Georgia

Abhishek Kumar - Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia-30602, USA

Deepak R. Mishra - Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia-30602, USA

Sk. Md. Equeenuddin - Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela-769008, Odisha, India

Abstract Title: Differential Impact of Anniversary Cyclones on a Coastal Lagoon

Session Description: This session is part of the one-day Asia Symposium. The papers in this session reflect current research on and about energy and the environment in Asia.

Japan After 3/11: Global Perspectives on the Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Meltdown

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 4:40 PM - 6:20 PM in Union Square 6, Hilton Hotel, 4th Floor

4:40 PM Introduction: Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

4:50 PM Author(s): *Kenji Yamazaki - Iwate University

Abstract Title: Disaster and Shrine

5:10 PM Author(s): *Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

Abstract Title: The Two Tsunamis: Tamil Nadu (2004) to Tohoku (2011)

5:30 PM Author(s): *Unryu Suganuma - J. F. Oberlin Univesity

Abstract Title: Historical Geography of the Japanese Tsunami, and Facing 2011Waves

5:50 PM Discussant: Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

Discussant(s):

Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

Session Description: On March 11, 2011 a massive tsunami triggered by an underwater earthquake pummeled the Pacific coast of Tohoku. The aftermath was overwhelming: ships could be spotted miles inland; cars floated in the ocean; more than 16,500 missing or dead; relief organizations struggled to reach affected areas to provide aid for survivors and those evacuated from areas contaminated by radiation. Some of the tsunami debris even washed ashore on the Pacific coast of North America in spring 2012.

Shortly after the disaster, researchers from Japan and abroad traveled to the Tohoku's most devastated areas, observing and documenting the tsunami's impact. This international symposium sponsored by the Institute of International Studies at J. F. Oberlin University offers the first field-based analysis of tsunami's environmental, economic and social impacts, and response and recovery efforts. Employing an interdisciplinary approach the Institute has assembled an international team of top geographers, economists, political scientists, and social as well as natural scientists to study the environmental, economic and political effects of the 2011 Japan tsunami.

Papers presented at the symposium offer a clear and definitive analysis of one of the world's deadliest natural disasters on record, and the resulting book manuscript under preparation will be of interest to environmentalists and political scientists alike, as well as to planners and administrators of disaster-preparedness programs.

Rail Landscapes II: High-Speed Rail - Development, Integration and Crisis

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 4:40 PM - 6:20 PM in Golden Gate Room, Hotel Nikko, 25th Floor

4:40 PM Author(s): *Hyojin Kim - University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Selima Sultana - University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Abstract Title: The integrated multi-modal network approach for accessibility assessment of railway improvement plan in the United States

5:00 PM Author(s): *Yun Zhao - Oklahoma State University

Hongbo Yu - Oklahoma State University

Abstract Title: Challenge of the Last Mile—Assessing the Accessibility Impact of the Proposed High-speed Rail between Dallas and Houston at the Intra-city Level

5:20 PM Author(s): *Haoran Yang - Utrecht University

Abstract Title: Comparing passenger flow and train flow data for analyzing high speed railways traffic and urban networks in China

5:40 PM Author(s): *Andrew Ryder, D.Phil (Oxon) - The University of Portsmouth, UK

Abstract Title: High speed rail in Poland and Eastern Germany: slow and steady wins the race

6:00 PM Author(s): *Hildebrand Julia, M.A. - Drexel University

Mimi Sheller, Ph.D. - Drexel University

Abstract Title: Finding New Narratives for Rail in the US: A Report on the ImagineTrains Workshop with Rail Decision Makers and Thought Leaders

Session Description: High Speed Rail (HSR) has received an increasing amount of media and political attention over the past decade. HSR is touted as a catalyst for economic activity and a path to sustainable mobility in an increasingly complex and crowded world. HSR has also been derided as a class-based enterprise that can exacerbate harmful social divisions and divert capital from projects that could benefit a broader spectrum of society. China and the EU have created vast HSR networks capable of efficiently moving large numbers of people in comfort and safety. Meanwhile, the United States has failed to build even one true HSR line as it struggles with political, economic and geographic barriers that have stymied almost half a century of efforts. This session will feature a variety of papers on existing and proposed HSR systems around the world and the geographic ramifications of those systems at different scales.

Working Panel on Teaching Geography of Energy Courses

Tuesday, 3/29/2016, from 4:40 PM - 6:20 PM in Union Square 1, Hilton Hotel, 4th Floor

Panelist(s):

Martin (Mike) J. Pasqualetti - Arizona State University

Jeffrey S. Jenkins - University of California, Santa Cruz

Autumn Thoyre - Colgate University

Marilyn A. Brown - Georgia Institute of Technology

Session Description: The importance of integrated approaches to energy resources and sustainability in the university curriculum continues to grow. Geographers are increasingly heeding the call with course offerings focused explicitly on geographies of energy. This panel session will focus on constructive collaboration among all participants (audience and panel alike) focused on enhancing our collective pedagogical and instructional capacity on this topic. To this end, panelists will report on an effort to synthesize the range of existing Geography of Energy syllabi, will share and critique their own syllabi, and will contribute and discuss learning modules such as lesson plans, assignments and field trip itineraries. Audience participation is welcome and encouraged: all participants will leave with actionable resources for building or enhancing Geography of Energy syllabi, perhaps leading to an "ideal" syllabus for a course in the Geography of Energy.